Tuesday, July 20th 2021

GlobalFoundries Plans to Build New Fab in Upstate New York in Private-Public Partnership

GlobalFoundries (GF), the global leader in feature-rich semiconductor manufacturing, today announced its expansion plans for its most advanced manufacturing facility in upstate New York over the coming years. These plans include immediate investments to address the global chip shortage at its existing Fab 8 facility as well as construction of a new fab on the same campus that will double the site's capacity.

The announcement was made as the company convened leaders from government and industry to progress the national discussion around solving U.S. semiconductor supply chain challenges. CEO Tom Caulfield was joined by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo, former Pentagon officials, and executives from leading companies throughout the semiconductor supply chain.

GF will invest $1 billion to immediately add an additional 150,000 wafers per year within its existing fab to help address the global chip shortage. Following that, GF plans to construct a new fab that will create more than 1,000 new direct high-tech jobs and thousands more indirect jobs including high-paying construction jobs for the region. Following the successful investment model of Fab 8, GF is planning to fund the new facility through private-public partnerships including customers, federal and state investments. This new capacity will serve the growing demand for secure, feature-rich chips needed by high-growth markets including automotive, 5G connectivity and the Internet of Things. The facility will also support national security requirements for a secure supply chain.

These investments to expand GF's U.S. manufacturing footprint are part of the company's broader global expansion plans that include the recently announced new fab in Singapore and $1 billion planned investment to expand in Germany, all to meet the growing demand from customers worldwide.

"Our expansion and job creation in Malta requires a new economic model, based on the bold public-private partnerships being championed in Washington by visionary leaders Senator Schumer and Secretary Raimondo, as well as close collaboration with our customers," said GF CEO Tom Caulfield. "Our industry is expected to grow more in the next decade than it did in the past 50 years and GF is stepping up to do its part as we work together to address the growing demand for technology innovation for the betterment of humanity. We are honored to be joined by government and automotive leaders, national security experts, and our valued customers to continue the critical discussions needed to create a reliable supply of American-made chips to support the U.S. economy and national security."

"I've led the fight to establish historic federal incentives for semiconductor manufacturing and R&D to strengthen the domestic semiconductor supply chain that is critical to our national security and global competitiveness, including addressing the chip shortage impacting industries across the economy, all in hopes of bringing us to announcements like this today," said Sen. Schumer. "As Majority Leader, I worked hard with companies like GlobalFoundries to craft and pass the bipartisan U.S. Competition and Innovation Act, providing $52 billion to expand the domestic semiconductor industry and supercharge the GlobalFoundries expansion of Fab 8 and building a new fab in Malta. Today's announcement is a win-win-win: a win for jobs in the Capital Region, a win for GlobalFoundries, and a win for U.S. government, automakers, and other critical industries that desperately need chips."

GF employs more than 15,000 worldwide with 7,000 people across the U.S., and nearly 3,000 at its headquarters in Malta, New York. GF has invested more than $15 billion in its Fab 8 facility over the last decade to support innovation and increase manufacturing capacity. As an accredited supplier of advanced semiconductors to the U.S. government, GF delivers secure and reliable semiconductor solutions at Fab 8, which is compliant with the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Moreover, GF offers the highest industry, customer and government criteria for secure manufacturing, worldwide, through its GF Shield program.
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21 Comments on GlobalFoundries Plans to Build New Fab in Upstate New York in Private-Public Partnership

#1
W1zzard
"GF will invest $1 billion to immediately add an additional 150,000 wafers per year within its existing fab"

is "immediately" like that even possible with fabs? Or does it really mean "we're spending money this year, so that before 2022 we can finish, and have +150k wafers per year next year" ?
Posted on Reply
#2
dj-electric
This... connects to other things happening in NY... this might also connect to Intel that... may or may not do things in NY as well.

Maybe...
Posted on Reply
#3
FreedomEclipse
~Technological Technocrat~
Good to see they'll be hiring my kind of New Yorker.

contains strong language:

[/ISPOILER]




::EDIT::
Some people dont seem to understand that this was a sarcastic comment.
Posted on Reply
#4
AnarchoPrimitiv
The real question is whether they have any plans to get back into cutting edge, or at least competing, newer nodes... For example, maybe not 5nm right now, but at least 7nm...like at most being one node behind TSMC
Posted on Reply
#5
Nordic
Where is my personal fab in my backyard? - Every state and local government
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#6
ShiBDiB
FreedomEclipseGood to see they'll be hiring my kind of New Yorker.

contains strong language:

[/ISPOILER]
lol, as an upstater I enjoy how no one has any idea what being in upstate actually means.

Spoiler, it involves a lot of trees/mountains/lakes/etc... There's a reason a large geographical portion of the state wants NYC to be its own entity, it's a completely different thing than the rest of the state.
Posted on Reply
#7
DeathtoGnomes
This PR is in response the "talks with Intel, implying one of two things 1) they dont really want to sell to Intel, or 2) GF is trying to up the price tag against Intels current offer they gave "in talks".
Posted on Reply
#8
Rithsom
ShiBDiBlol, as an upstater I enjoy how no one has any idea what being in upstate actually means.

Spoiler, it involves a lot of trees/mountains/lakes/etc... There's a reason a large geographical portion of the state wants NYC to be its own entity, it's a completely different thing than the rest of the state.
I think that goes for a lot of states with both big cities and vast countrysides. In Illinois, there is the mostly liberal metropolitan area of Chicago. Then in pretty much the entire lower half of the state, there is a conservative population living among corn fields.
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#9
Taraquin
Hopefully they will continue ther research for smaller nodes like 7nm and 5nm which they abandoned a while ago. They were hanging on quite well with TSMC and Samsung until they gave up after 12nm.
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#10
Why_Me
FreedomEclipseGood to see they'll be hiring my kind of New Yorker.

contains strong language:

[/ISPOILER]
Big difference between NYC and upstate NY. Kind of like the difference between London and the rest of England.
Posted on Reply
#11
Richards
TaraquinHopefully they will continue ther research for smaller nodes like 7nm and 5nm which they abandoned a while ago. They were hanging on quite well with TSMC and Samsung until they gave up after 12nm.
Samsung loaned them they node gf dnot innovate at all
Posted on Reply
#12
DeathtoGnomes
ShiBDiBThere's a reason a large geographical portion of the state wants NYC to be its own entity, it's a completely different thing than the rest of the state.
I'm all for nuking NYC, but who will fund the rest of the state? oh wait! there is new fab with 1000 jobs coming! Saved by the PR announcement! :D
Posted on Reply
#13
ShiBDiB
DeathtoGnomesI'm all for nuking NYC, but who will fund the rest of the state? oh wait! there is new fab with 1000 jobs coming! Saved by the PR announcement! :D
Ya... you take NYC out of the picture and creeper Cuomo loses the last gubernatorial election.. The effect of losing NYC's income is overstated as it's also a massive portion of the expenditure on the state as well.

GF doubling down in upstate NY is a good sign regardless.
Posted on Reply
#14
persondb
W1zzard"GF will invest $1 billion to immediately add an additional 150,000 wafers per year within its existing fab"

is "immediately" like that even possible with fabs? Or does it really mean "we're spending money this year, so that before 2022 we can finish, and have +150k wafers per year next year" ?
If you look at Anandtech article on this, it becomes more clear.
Tom Caulfield told us prior to that announcement that the Malta fab is around two-thirds full of equipment, Dresden is at about half, but Singapore is full, hence the new Singapore fab.
Today’s announcement commits to adding additional machines at Malta to scale out to the space already there, for another 150k wafers per year, at a cost of $1B.
In other words, their fabs have the space and means necessary to install the machines/production lines, so it likely is going much faster and thus 'immediately'. Though I think that 'immediately' would still means a couple of months.
Posted on Reply
#15
TechLurker
AnarchoPrimitivThe real question is whether they have any plans to get back into cutting edge, or at least competing, newer nodes... For example, maybe not 5nm right now, but at least 7nm...like at most being one node behind TSMC
I would guess "not really". Right now, automotive and government contracts are the hot sectors, and both need mature, semi-hardened nodes that can handle the rigors of weather while being modern enough to incorporate into compact spaces, and made in the USA for reasons. That's not to say they shouldn't ignore newer nodes, but it would probably be contingent on getting a government sponsored R&D contract, if not working out another deal with Samsung for their 8nm node like they did for 14nm. They've also been doing relatively well selling on mature 14nm and 12nm processes, even without AMD using them as much as before.
Posted on Reply
#16
ShiBDiB
TechLurkerI would guess "not really". Right now, automotive and government contracts are the hot sectors, and both need mature, semi-hardened nodes that can handle the rigors of weather while being modern enough to incorporate into compact spaces, and made in the USA for reasons. That's not to say they shouldn't ignore newer nodes, but it would probably be contingent on getting a government sponsored R&D contract, if not working out another deal with Samsung for their 8nm node like they did for 14nm. They've also been doing relatively well selling on mature 14nm and 12nm processes, even without AMD using them as much as before.
This. There's still a massive market for the older sizes that isn't going anywhere. Gotta remember that majority of the tech stuff out there isn't actually using the bleeding edge.
Posted on Reply
#17
R-T-B
dj-electricThis... connects to other things happening in NY... this might also connect to Intel that... may or may not do things in NY as well.

Maybe...
GloFo has operated in new york for some time. They bought a lot of their plants there from IBM.
ShiBDiBlol, as an upstater I enjoy how no one has any idea what being in upstate actually means.
I thought everyone did, courtesy Seinfeld and the bubbleboy episode where they had to travel "upstate."
Posted on Reply
#18
ShiBDiB
R-T-BI thought everyone did, courtesy Seinfeld and the bubbleboy episode where they had to travel "upstate."
I think we're dating ourselves with that reference :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#19
HammerOn1024
RithsomI think that goes for a lot of states with both big cities and vast countrysides. In Illinois, there is the mostly liberal metropolitan area of Chicago. Then in pretty much the entire lower half of the state, there is a conservative population living among corn fields.
And out west... we don't count Rockford.
Posted on Reply
#20
dragontamer5788
W1zzard"GF will invest $1 billion to immediately add an additional 150,000 wafers per year within its existing fab"

is "immediately" like that even possible with fabs? Or does it really mean "we're spending money this year, so that before 2022 we can finish, and have +150k wafers per year next year" ?
ASML only makes so many machines per year.

GF has probably "immediately" ordered new machines from ASML. But ASML then has to build them and ship them over...
DeathtoGnomesThis PR is in response the "talks with Intel, implying one of two things 1) they dont really want to sell to Intel, or 2) GF is trying to up the price tag against Intels current offer they gave "in talks".
Not this PR really. The IPO discussion however is definitely suggesting that GloFo doesn't want to be bought by Intel.
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#21
R-T-B
ShiBDiBI think we're dating ourselves with that reference :laugh:
Sheesh, way to go man, now I feel old...
Posted on Reply
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